As $6.3 Billion in Bitcoin Options Expire, Will Cryptocurrency Markets Continue to Fall?

Approximately 85,500 Bitcoin options contracts are set to expire today (Friday, May 29), with a face value of approximately $6.3 billion. This is higher than normal volume at the end of the month, which is likely to be reflected in the spot market.

The digital currency market fell throughout the week. Affected by the continued weakness of Bitcoin and the sharp decline of Ethereum, the digital currency market shrank by approximately US$120 billion.

Escalating U.S. military tensions in the Middle East sent investors into panic, accelerating the sell-off.

For options contracts expiring this week, the ratio of calls to puts is 0.85, meaning there is a relative balance between shorts and buyers.

Coinglass said the “maximum pain” level is $75,000, which is slightly higher than current spot prices, putting some contracts out of profit range at expiration.

The highest level of open interest in options contracts on the Deribit platform is concentrated at a price of $80,000, valued at $1.7 billion, while open interest in put options contracts remains at $60,000, at $1.2 billion.

Total open interest in Bitcoin options contracts across all trading platforms recently fell to $37.5 billion.

The price of BTC has begun to fall below the Gex concentration area, and the resistance to holding positions will continue to weaken. Meanwhile, ETH also fell below Gex resistance as Gex concentrated around $2,000.

Although BTC has fallen to a very dangerous level… pic.twitter.com/INeioAIqMP

— Greeks.live (@GreeksLive) May 28, 2026

Despite Bitcoin’s drop to extremely dangerous levels, derivatives provider Greeks Live reported on Thursday that implied volatility has not risen significantly, suggesting that today’s expiration is likely to cause a fundamental shift in the current options position structure, adding that the market as a whole is still betting on support and that major investors’ concerns about default risk have not escalated significantly.

In addition to Bitcoin options contracts, there are approximately 650,000 Ethereum contracts expiring with a notional value of $1.3 billion, a maximum pain level of $2,200, and a bid/ask ratio of 0.77.

The total open interest in Ethereum options contracts across all exchanges reached approximately $6.9 billion.

As a result, the total face value of options contracts expiring today is approximately $7.6 billion, the largest such event in weeks.

In terms of the near-term market outlook, the total market value of digital currencies fell to $2.55 trillion on Friday morning, the lowest level since April 13.

Bitcoin is back at $73,000 levels after breaking above $73,000 twice on Thursday, but its market structure remains fragile and more losses are likely.

At the time of writing, Ethereum has regained $2,000 levels, but it also appears to be in a weak and deep position within bear market territory.

In addition, U.S. inflation pressure cannot be underestimated. According to the “PCE” index report released this week, U.S. inflation in April hit the fastest growth rate in three years.

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